Port, city double-down on economic development

The Bremerton mayor, sensing a chance to double-down on the area’s expected growth, proposed the city hire an economic development director last fall. Her idea was to create a liaison who could bridge the city government with those looking to do business here.

“I’m limited to what I can do, and I felt with the strength of the city revenues, we’re at a perfect place to have a person devoted to marketing and bringing business to this thriving city,” she said.

She believes she’s found him in Jack Edwards, former general manager of the Baymont Inn & Suites and a veteran of the sales and marketing world.

“I’ve been growing businesses all my life,” Edwards said. “Now is the time I wanted to do something for the community.”

The city isn't the only Kitsap agency pouring resources into business recruitment. The Port of Bremerton also established a director of business development position this summer, hiring Kitsap Conference Center manager Arne Bakker.

Bakker will be charged with retaining and growing the port’s existing tenants, while promoting its undeveloped industrial land.

“We need someone who can get out there, get their feet on the ground and talk to people,” port CEO Jim Rothlin said.

The Bremerton City Council funded its position in the 2017 budget upon Lent’s recommendation. Thirteen people applied for the position, filled in June. Edwards will be paid $60,000 a year.

Lent said roughly 80 percent of Edwards job will be focusing on new business recruitment and retention throughout the city — not just downtown.

Edwards will also publish a business development web page, as well as a periodic newsletter, highlighting jobs and business opportunities in Bremerton. He’ll also attend numerous business meetings, including those of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance.

Edwards, 48, moved to the area in 2006 from Southern California, where he cut his teeth in marketing after-market motor sports products and in the hospitality industry. Hired in 2009 as Baymont Inn & Suites’ director of sales and marketing, he rose through the ranks to become its general manager.

He plans to emphasize Bremerton’s lower cost of living and proximity to nature.

“Here, you can be out paddling on the water in five minutes,” he said. “In Seattle, you’d just be starting to sit in traffic.”

Port makes hire

Rothlin said Bakker will join the port on July 24 with an annual salary of $95,000.

Bakker has managed Kitsap Conference Center for Columbia Hospitality since 2013. He previously worked with commercial real estate firm Regus in Tacoma and has international experience in the hospitality industry.

“He’s spent some time in the private sector so he understands the private sector,” Rothlin said.

Seattle consultant group Heartland LLC. recently completed a marketing study aimed at helping the port directly target companies that might be interested in relocating or expanding to Puget Sound Industrial Center — Bremerton. Rothlin said the study and business databases provided by Heartland will help Bakker kickstart his marketing work.

“I feel like we have some tools that can help us go where we want to go,” Rothlin said.